Ahmed Yahaya – Joe
The scene of fleeing Afghans desperately clinging to a US military transport plane is reminiscent of a stunt by Tom Cruise in “Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation”
We are told, “When Alexander tried to enter Persia he was met with fierce resistance. Didn’t matter what he did, he couldn’t quench the uprisings and could not conquer the country. After losing a lot of men, he wrote to Aristotle for advice. Aristotle asked Alexander for a sample of Afghan soil to be shipped to him.
Upon receipt of the soil samples, Aristotle laid them under the Court carpet and very soon started noticing that men of the court started fighting and killing each other. They became defiant to authority and that led Aristotle to the conclusion, that there is something unique and bizarre with the Persian soil that makes men fight to the end and in a way remain unconquerable.”
“The Secret of Secrets”, is an apocryphal source, a purported exchange of letters between Aristotle and Alexander.
According to the Arabic manuscripts dated 987 AD, Aristotle wrote back to Alexander to withdraw from Persia, “for their land will, by the laws of nature, breed another generation which will be similar. The character of these men is determined by the nature of the air of their country and the waters they habitually drink.”
Historically, Persian Empire stretched from the borders of India down through Egypt and up to the northern borders of Greece. It was the world’s first global superpower.
Many observers over the ensuing centuries insist that the soil sample sent to Aristotle by Alexander was from the Afghanistan part of the Persian Empire. Alexander died on June 11, 323 BC at the age of 32 in the Palace of Nebuchadnezzar at Babylon, present-day Iraq.
Over time in addition to Persians, Greeks, Arabs, Turks and Mongols have successfully invaded Afghanistan but none have set up a permanent presence including the British Empire in 1839 -1842 and 1919.
The defunct Soviet Union from 1979 to 1989 and now the United States from 2001 to 2021.
Plato (428-348 BC) was a student of Socrates (470-399 BC) and Aristotle studied under Plato. He was hired by Philip II, King of Macedon (359-336 BC) as tutor for his son Alexander the Great (356-323 BC)
According to Alexander the Great, “I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.”
Perhaps the Afghans are lions led by lions. Will the Taliban be fair and competent administrators? Will they be compassionate conquerors?
I have my doubts. Blood in, blood out.
“Only the dead have seen the end of war.” – George Santayana (1863-1952)
